Solidarity with Aberdeen SPSC activists – support for the peaceful boycott , divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS)

Aberdeen Trades Union Council (ATUC) stands in solidarity with the six activists from Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Aberdeen who were arrested and detained following a peaceful protest in Home Bargains on Saturday 15 February.

Following 16 months of genocide in Gaza, which has left more than 62,000 dead including almost 18,000 children, and further Israeli violence in the West Bank, which has killed over 900 Palestinians, protesters took their Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign into Home Bargains in Aberdeen and called on shoppers to boycott Israeli goods, and for Home Bargains to stop stocking them.

ATUC is very concerned about the response by Police Scotland to a peaceful solidarity protest that involved 16 police officers which we understand included at least one armed police officer. We are deeply concerned that this response by Police Scotland caused serious alarm to the public shopping in the area and to the members of the Scottish Palestine solidarity committee exercising their lawful right to peacefully protest in support of the Palestinian people. 

ATUC believes that the right to protest is a fundamental democratic right, enshrined in law, and protected under human rights conventions. Under international law, advocating for and participating in boycott actions against companies complicit in human rights violations is not a crime. 

Please attend SPSC event on 4 June and hear about life in Palestine and why we must support BDS

 

Aberdeen Trades Union Council is delighted to sponsor Scottish Palestine Solidarity Aberdeen's event on Saturday 4th June from 11-1pm in our ATUC premises in Adelphi.

We are urging all delegates, family and friends to go along.

The event will consider life in Palestine today, under oppression and occupation, especially in light of Amnesty International's report declaring Israel to be an apartheid state, and the call from civil society and trade unions in Palestine for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) in support of Palestinian freedom and justice.

Tommy Campbell, ATUC delegate and SPSC member said: "We're excited for our first in person event for over two years. We'll have three speakers, discussion and authentic Palestinian food to finish. 

It promises to be a great event. Please come along."

Online and in-person tickets are available. You can register on Eventbrite. Click HERE to book your place.

The event is free to attend, but donations towards the campaign and event running costs are welcome.

Come along to SPSC's online event and find out how you can support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

 
ATUC is supporting a series of events organised by Scottish Palestine Solidaroty Campaign (SPSC) Aberdeen, focused on Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS). 

We are urging all our delegates, associates, family and friends to get along to the first event on Zoom on Thursday 27th October 2021 from 6.30-8pm. 

You can find out more by clicking HERE And you can register on Eventbrite HERE

The series will explore the divestment campaign against Caterpillar (via HSBC) and Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes, IHRA (Right to BDS), Puma and sport apartheid.

The first event is the re-launch of our divestment campaign against Caterpillar (via HSBC) and Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes.

ATUC commends Aberdeen City for flying the Palestinian flag on the UN international day of solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Today is UN international day of solidarity with the people of Palestine. 

Aberdeen Trades Union Council sends greetings to the people of Palestine and pledges our continued support for an end to the oppression and occupation of the people of Palestine by the Israeli government.

We commend Aberdeen City Council and the Lord Provost for flying the Palestinian flag today to commemorate the international day of solidarity with the people of Palestine.

This continues Aberdeen City's excellent record of international solidarity, including awarding the freedom of the city to Nelson Mandela when he was still a prisoner on Robben Island. 

As Mandela said, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

ATUC Acting President, Graeme Farquhar said "We fully support the decision of Aberdeen City Council's Lord Provost  to yet again fly the Palestinian flag as part of the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the people of Palestine.

 

"The Aberdeen TUC in line with STUC policy continues in its efforts to secure peace and justice for Palestine in line with United Nations Resolutions aimed at bringing an end to Israel's illegal occupied territories of Palestine."

The struggle continues.

Land Day demo calls on HSBC to divest from Caterpillar

Aberdeen Trades Union Council delegates joined Aberdeen Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign to commemorate Land Day with a demo outside HSBC.

This aimed to alert customers to HSBC's complicity in Israeli war crimes.

HSBC is a major shareholder in Caterpillar, a company that sells bulldozers to Israeli military, which then uses the equipment to destroy Palestinian homes and infrastructure.

Tell HSBC to divest from Caterpillar!

 Read more at War on Want

Find out more about Land Day

Come along and hear Shir Hever on the privatisation of Israeli security

Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign is hosting Israeli economist Shir Hever in Aberdeen on Thursday 7 Dec, 7 pm: UNITE offices, 43-44 King Street, AB24 5TJ

Shir Hever is speaking across Scotland about his new book that analyses the impact of Palestinian resistance on Israeli occupation and U.S. military aid. He shows how the Israeli security elites turn violence into a commodity. This is highly relevant here in Scotland as Israeli hyper-surveillance systems (NICE Safe Cities Solutions) are piloted in Glasgow.


SPSC believes it's crucial not just to get angry at Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people but to take effective, collective action based on an understanding of the forces at work in the Middle East, Washington and Europe. That's why they bring experts in their fields to sustain an informed conversation in Scotland on Palestine.

Shir Hever is an economic researcher based at the Alternative Information Centre in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Privatisation of Israeli Security (Pluto, 2017) and The Political Economy of Israel's Occupation (Pluto, 2010).

Between 1994-2014, Israel’s security service was transformed, becoming one of the most extreme examples of privatised security in the world. This book is an investigation into this period and the conditions that created ‘Occupation Inc.’: the institution of a private military-security-industrial complex. 

Statement from Aberdeen Trades Union Council regarding the Motion debated by Aberdeen City Council on 14th December 2016

Aberdeen Trades Union Council has written to all Aberdeen City Councillors regarding a motion that was debated on 14th December at the council meeting. See text of the motion below.

We are delighted to report that an amendment was tabled and approved, removing points 3 and 4 of the motion following this statement from the ATUC and representations by other interested parties. ATUC of course fully supports the remainder of the motion and is proud to condemn and work to oppose racism, xenophobia and hate crimes.

However we defend the rights of individuals and organisations like our own to take part in legitimate, lawful protest - including the support of boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions campaigns against states that breach human rights. We are proud that Aberdeen City Council has supported this right.

Say No to Jericho's Stolen Resources - Sign the petition today

Please sign and share this online petition at 38 Degrees from Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign SPSC Aberdeen, calling on Union Square and Trinity Centre to distance themselves from the theft of resources and human right abuses by removing Jericho Cosmetics stalls from their premises.

The Dead Sea products company Jericho Cosmetics trades from stalls in Aberdeen’s Union Square and Trinity Centre. Their products are made with minerals illegally extracted by Israeli authorities from occupied Palestinian territories surrounding the Dead Sea.

For the past few months, SPSC Aberdeen has been campaigning against the stalls by leafleting Saturday shoppers and  urging them to boycott Jericho cosmetics.

Campaigns in Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh have resulted in the closure of Dead Sea cosmetics stalls in shopping centres across Scotland. Let's make sure Aberdeen follows!

Please sign and share widely: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/say-no-to-jericho-s-stolen-resources-1

Next ATUC Delegates Meeting Wed 6th July 2016

The next ATUC Delegates meeting will take place on Wed 6th July 2016 at 7.30pm, in ATUC premises, John Londragan House, 22A Adelphi, Aberdeen.

Kate Ramsden, ATUC President said, "We have the usual packed agenda covering the 150th Anniversary of ATUC events in 2018, the 80th Anniversary of Spanish Civil War events/commemoration as well as the St Andrews Day March and Rally 2016 and the ATUC Annual Report 2016."

Please note that Fiona Napier from Aberdeen SPSC will speak on the Lajee Centre visit as well as the BDS Campaign in respect of the Jericho stalls in the Aberdeen Shopping Malls.

"We hope to see as many delegates there as possible and visitors are also welcome," added Kate

St Andrew's Day March and Rally welcomes refugees in the spirit of our compassion and shared humanity

Around two hundred trade unionists, politicians and members of faith and community groups joined together at the Aberdeen St Andrew’s Day March and Rally on 28^th November to give a clear and unequivocal message that  in the name of our shared humanity, refugees are welcome here in the North East of Scotland – racism and fascism are not!

As the march snaked down Union Street to the rhythm of the Guarana Drummers, passers by again stopped to watch the colourful procession created by the banners of trade unions and community groups,  led as always by the red and white banner of the ATUC.

At the rally in the Castlegate, speaker after speaker spoke passionately about our shared humanity with all those fleeing war, poverty and oppression.

Urgent alert: Call on Aberdeen University to cancel visit of Yiftah Curiel, Israeli Embassy spokesperson

At 18.00 on Wednesday the 4th of November, Aberdeen University Politics and International Relations Society are hosting an event titled: US - Iran Nuclear Deal: Implications on Middle East, with guest speaker Yiftah Curiel, HEAD SPOKESMAN AT THE ISRAELI EMBASSY OF LONDON.

Please take a few minutes to click on this link and send off a letter, to send Aberdeen University a clear message that this is unacceptable and calling on them to cancel Curiel's visit.

It is crucial that a clear message is sent to organisers of the event, the university and AUSA: representatives of the racist, apartheid state of Israel are not welcome in our city and that such an event is offensive and completely inappropriate.

The event amounts to simple political propaganda. Mr Curiel is not an academic called to present his research or his opinion, but rather a State official called to express Israel’ s highly controversial stance on a very sensitive political matter.